Merri called about a month ago inquiring about 11.11.11 and luckily we were available. The longer we talked about her wedding, the more excited I got, and the more I was drawn to her contagious joy. A few days later we met her and her fiance Matt for dinner. Three hours later, we had new friends and were jazzed about this epic wedding they had planned.

When most people think of epic, they think of huge and elaborate, this wedding was epic in character. There are things you have to know about this wedding to fully fall in love with it. Keep in mind as you hear their story and watch their wedding, that it was planned in 2 months. Everything for this couple has fit together perfectly to make this day possible.

The barn they were married in was built in the early 1900's. The first time Merri drove to Oneonta to visit Matt, she fell in love with this barn down the road from his house. She referred to it as 'her' barn, little did she know half of Oneonta referred to it as 'their' barn. When it was time to plan a wedding, there was only one place that came to mind ... 'her' barn. They asked around, found the owner, and talked to him about using the barn for a wedding. After a string of unusual circumstances, he had to give in. The barn had been vacant for years. So, for the past month Matt and Merri have worked to restore the barn enough to be safe for a wedding.

The only wedding attendants they had were their English Mastiffs, Link and Callie. Link wore a tie, Callie wore pearls. They considered all of their close family and friends in the barn, their attendants.

The communion bread was baked by Matt's younger sister. They made the chandelier in the barn.

Merri loves old trucks, so of course that would be the perfect getaway car. The path that led the to it was unusual. By a series of events, they met a guy in the Captain D's parking lot that had an amazing restored old Ford truck. He was sweet enough to let them use it.

The reception was at Wine'd Down, which brings the story full circle. That is where Matt and Merri met three years ago when he was helping out bar-tending. The reception was a huge party that all of their friends were invited to.

These are only the highlights of how everything fell into place and how every planned detail had meaning. I think the journey for them to pull this off was as fun as the wedding. Congratulations Merri + Matt!

Thanks to Bill Wilson with Sundolphin Productions for being part of our team yesterday!